Richard Boyd Barrett's Instagram post about the Irish Government's funding for domestic violence refuges – which is reportedly much less than what's given to the horse and greyhound racing industry – received an unexpected boost last night, when it was re-posted by one of the top models in the world, Bella Hadid.

The American model, who has 50.6 million followers on the social media platform, re-shared the post on her Instagram Stories, adding the caption: #PEOPLEBEFOREPROFIT

Despite her huge amount of followers, she only follows 729 people on Instagram – with Richard Boyd Barrett included in this number.

Hadid and her sister, fellow model Gigi Hadid, are no strangers to speaking out about political and social issues. The sisters, who have Palestinian roots, recently decided to donate their Fashion Week 2022 earnings "directly to organisations that are providing help, refuge and medical aide to those in need on the ground in Ukraine, as well as continuing to support our Palestinian people and land."

Boyd Barrett originally shared his Instagram post in January, featuring the words:

"Government Funding For Horse Racing: €88 Million – Government Funding For Domestic Violence Refuges: €30 Million"

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Richard Boyd Barrett (@richardboydbarrett)

"Did you know the government gives more money to the horse and greyhound racing industry than to domestic violence refuges?" he wrote in the caption for the post. "The Istanbul Convention on combatting domestic violence and violence called for one refuge for every 10,000 of population.
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"In total Ireland is only providing 29% of the Istanbul Target. 2,159 requests could not be met in 2020. And the government want us to believe they care about women's safety?"

In February, a month after the post was originally shared on Instagram, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee stated that her "long-term objective" is "reaching the Istanbul target."

"It is my commitment that anyone who needs a space or a bed or accommodation or safe refuge will get that," she said, as reported by the Irish Examiner. "The target for us under the Istanbul Convention based on our population and based on one per 10,000 of a population is 476. With time that may change."